The Bible Baptist Church, located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky, would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor, David Edmondson. My text this morning is found
in 1 John chapter 4. John, the beloved disciple, referred
to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And it wasn't because
he thought he was something special, but because he could never, ever
get over the wondrous fact that Christ loved him. And because
of Christ's love for him, he was often found with his head
leaning on the Savior's breast near his heart. And here in 1
John 4, verse 10, John writes these words, Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God
at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. And hereby know we that
we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us his
Spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
And whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. And herein is our
love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Because as He is, as Christ is,
so are we in this world. Now this epistle was written
to believers. And John goes on to say, there's
no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because
fear hath torment. And he that feareth is not made
perfect, mature, complete in love. Then in verse 19, John
writes these words, and we love him because he first loved us. Because. This is the reason we
love Him. Because He first loved us. You know, men today talk a great
deal about their free will and the decision that they made to
make Jesus Lord. That just can't be for one simple
reason. We love Him because He first
loved us. God, before the heavens and earth
were ever made, said, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Did God look ahead in time and
see that Jacob would love him and Esau wouldn't? No. Romans
chapter 9 verse 11 tells us, For the children being not yet
born, these two boys, these two twin boys, having not yet been
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. We love Him because He first
loved us. There's only one reason that
we love God. There's only one reason that
we love Jesus Christ, and because this is the reason He first loved
us. And someone says, well, that
can't be so. I made Jesus Lord. No, God didn't
that before you were ever born. He was Lord before you were ever
born. Another says, well, I decided
to follow Jesus to let go and let God save me. I have determined
to give him my heart and let him have his way in my life.
Listen to what you're saying. Do we control God? No, our Lord
said, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained
you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit
should remain. It's God who chooses us. It's God who preordains us to
bring forth fruit. It's God who causes that fruit
to remain because Christ remains in us forever. You see, we didn't
do something in order to be saved. We have fruit and bring forth
fruit because the Lord saved us out of love for Him. It's
God that chooses us. Salvation's of the Lord. And
there's not a soul alive that cannot understand that simple
statement, salvation is of the Lord. There's only one way that
you can take that. Salvation is of the Lord means
the Lord is salvation. In order for salvation to be
of the Lord, that means the Lord had to provide it. That little
preposition of identifies the source. Joe Biden is the President
of the United States. I'm the pastor of Bible Baptist
Church. Jesus Christ is the Lord of salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. The
source between the unsaved and the saved is the Lord. The source
of salvation between the lost and the found is the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, I want to ask you three
questions, and I want you to think about them. When did Christ
love us? Well, he's always loved his sheep. In the beginning, before the
beginning, from the foundation of the world, before any sinner
ever done any good or evil that the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand, Not of works, but of him, they call
it. What did Jacob do to be loved?
He deserved to be hated as Esau was. We're dead in trespasses
and sin. A dead man's biggest obstacle
in coming to God is taking the first step. If you can take the
first step, then you can come, but a dead man can't do that.
The Lord cried, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came
forth. He was dead. Then came the call,
then came the life. Christ didn't say, Lazarus, if
you come forth, I'll give you life. No, he said, come forth.
And with the command came the power to obey. Life came before
the coming. The coming was the result of
the life given. With the command comes the power
and the life to come. With life comes the ability to
come. We love Him because He first
loved us. It's God who quickens. It's God
who makes a life. Only God can give life. Christ
is the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. Christ died the just for the
unjust. Why? That He might bring us to
God. He's a just God and a Savior. And this is why we love Him.
Anything and everything we do for the cause of Christ is not
done in order to be saved. It's a result of being saved
because He first loved us. His love for me is undeserved
by me. Grace is unmerited favor. I didn't
earn it. I didn't deserve it. It was unmerited. And that brings us to the second
question. Why did Christ love me first? As we've already concluded,
our Lord didn't look ahead in time and see that I would love
Him. He didn't choose me for something
that He saw I would or could do for Him. He loved me freely. You know what that word means?
Without a cause. We love Him because He first
loved us. God gave me to a son, God loves
me in his son. Me, what am I? I'm just wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. They haven't been bound, they
haven't been doctored, they haven't been given healing ointment,
just open, oozing, putrefying, unmollified sores. I'm sick with sin. I have spiritual leprosy. Those that are sick have need
of a physician. No one goes to the doctor when
they're well. They go when they're sick. And
it's the same with sinners. Those who are righteous in their
own eyes, those who are trusting in their own work, Those who
are resting in their own will do not need Christ, but we, his
sheep, love him because he first loved us. Thirdly, who did Christ
come to save? One of my favorite verses in
all the scriptures is found in 1 Timothy 1.15. It reads, this
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Not just sinners, but the chief,
the worst of sinners. That impotent man who lay at
the pool of Bethesda, he had no man to put him in the water.
And we have no man nor angel to stir the waters of our hearts
and make us willing to bow to Christ. We must have that done
for us. Christ must do it for us. Like
the man with a withered hand, we can do nothing to commend
ourselves to God. We can't work. Our hands, our
ability to do anything is withered, incapable of doing anything to
help ourselves. That leper, full of leprosy,
we know that the Lord can heal us as he knew. That's not the
question. The question is, will he heal
us? He said, Lord, I know you can,
but will you? And I, like the blind beggar
Bartimaeus, out of need, I cried all the more, Jesus, thou son
of David, have mercy upon me. And the Lord stood still. And I, too, have an issue of
blood. And I spent all that I had to
try to get better, but no earthly doctor could do me any good.
But if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I would be
made whole. He did for me what I could not
do for myself. He did for me everything that
God required of me. And I love him because he first
loved me. Like the dead man at Nain's gate,
I heard the words I say into the horizon. He that was dead
set up. I was the dead one. God didn't
have to save me. I didn't deserve to be shown
mercy. And that's why we love Him, because He first loved us.
For God so loved the world, His people in the world, from all
parts of the world, that He gave. Salvation is God giving us, not
us giving God. Salvation is not what we do for
God. It's what God has done for us. We, by God's grace, have
seen that this is the God who has done all the giving. But
this is the condemnation. Light has come, and men love
darkness. They love darkness rather than
light, and it's because their deeds are evil, John 3, 19. So
let me ask you, have you come to Christ? The believer says,
to whom else shall we go? Christ has the words to eternal
life. Christ is the word of eternal
life. Nowhere else to go. Now back
in 1 John 4, verse 17, herein is our love made perfect, that
we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is,
so are we in this world. Now you try to wrap your mind
or your thoughts around that. You see, I have an advocate,
I have a mediator that will in the day of judgment plead my
cause. For he himself accomplished all
that the holy law and justice of God required of me. And by
God's grace, I have been perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. And as he is, so are we right
now in this world. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. And we love him because he first
loved us. I would have never loved Christ
had he not loved me. This glorious verse removes all
doubt about who does the sinning and who did the saving. Thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sin. You have been listening to a
message by David Edmondson, the pastor of Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of God's free, sovereign grace
in Christ, you can write to our mailing address at P.O. Box 652
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431. or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky,
and our service times are Sunday morning Bible study at 10 o'clock
a.m., worship services begin at 11 o'clock a.m., Wednesday
evening services at 7 o'clock p.m. Please tune in again next
Sunday morning at 10 o'clock AM for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.